Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Brandlaism Project's - Cultural Values

The Brandalism project has a few new articles on culture and advertising that are definitely worth taking a look at. Below is the start of one I found interesting but take a look at them all. Also, keep an eye on these guys becuase with dedication this deep I dont see them going anywhere soon.

As artists we want to understand our culture – the spaces and places where society tells its stories about itself. These are the same spaces and places where our individual and collective values are expressed. In western culture it is advertising that dominates these spaces.

If we look at the statistics for 2011, we can see how much of our culture is influenced by advertising – 100% of television revenue comes from advertising, 100% of radio funding, 80% of our newspapers and around 50% of our magazines are funded by advertising revenues. Sponsorship by commercial companies underwrites most of our cultural institutions and public services including our museums, galleries, transport networks and universities. This subsidization of public institutions and services can be beneficial however it means that a large amount of our cultural spaces and places are controlled by large multinational corporations because they control the flow of money and with this power they get to say who says what, where. This leaves little democratic control and influence in the hands of the public. More [HERE]